Chapter 35 - Liberation and Confirmation
Hackett paced his office on Arcturus Station. No sooner had Commander Alenko removed the unknown threat of the graybox, when another threat raised its head. This one was far more delicate though, and he had no idea on the best course of action.
He sat at his desk, opening his drawer to remove a datapad that listed their best undercover operatives - they'd need to be damn good if he wasn't to risk implicating the Alliance any further - and he paused at the picture frame he kept in there that lit up as it detected his presence.
The answer to his problem was now staring him in the face. Terra.
He lifted out the frame and stared down at the photo of his daughter. This picture was nothing like the copious images of her as Commander Shepard that the extranet spewed out. Hannah had taken it. A snap-shot that caught the moment. This was Terra and himself during their last break together over four years ago at an isolated retreat, sitting at a table, side by side, having breakfast together overlooking a pristine shoreline. They'd just shared a joke and Hannah had captured them laughing as they looked at each other. He could still remember it all vividly. How he yearned for another.
He leaned back in his seat. Could he ask this of her with everything else she had on her plate? The problem was, he didn't have a better solution. She was the best he had. She was loyal to the Alliance and yet was no longer officially recognised as such. If the worse should come to pass, the Alliance could deny all knowledge.
The thought sickened him, especially after the way she'd already been treated, but this was bigger than any one person. She knew that, and that's why he knew she would do it without hesitation. This was too important.
Duty. Something she excelled at, and something he would also do by sending his daughter. He replaced the frame in his drawer, and reluctantly placed the call.
x
Joker interrupted Shepard's thoughts. "Commander, I've got an incoming message from Admiral Hackett. Says it's a sensitive matter and he needs to speak with you privately. Obviously didn't get the memo that you're not on the pay-roll anymore."
Shepard sat up at her desk in surprise. For her father to be contacting her directly meant it was something extremely important. "Put it through, Joker." As the display case above her monitors blacked out and her father's face came on screen, she wondered what was in store…
-x-
Shepard had barely stepped into the Battery when Miranda stormed in behind her.
"Why the hell are we heading to the Bahak system?"
"I'm going to spring an Alliance operative from a batarian prison," she stated, firmly.
Garrus looked confused. "Uh, why aren't the Alliance doing that?"
"Alliance in Batarian space?" She let him fill in the rest.
"Right, of course. Politics. Bad blood."
"Precisely."
"So why ask you?" demanded Miranda.
"Because I'm not accountable to them, and Hackett needs someone he can trust."
"But we have more important things to deal with, Commander. Like the colonists?"
"Without a way to get through that relay, or an ability to foresee which colony they'll hit next, we're just twiddling our thumbs. Besides, this could be vital. My target, Dr Kenson, has apparently found a reaper artifact that offers proof they exist and that they're about to attack."
"Spirits, that's some claim! With something like that to offer the Council, they would actually have to take action!"
"Exactly," she replied to Garrus. "But we won't know where it is unless we get Kenson out. She's a deep-cover operative. They're given free reign, only checking in to provide the most basic of details so they don't risk revealing themselves. Therefore, the specifics are known only to her."
"And she got caught. That's comforting," Miranda provided, sarcastically.
"Nobody's perfect, Miranda," she shot back. "Anyway, that's why I'm going in. Garrus, I'm leaving you in charge." She started walking out.
"You can't leave him in charge, Commander. I'm next in line," Miranda protested.
Lawson was pressing it again? Time to make it really clear. "I'm sure we've been down this road already, haven't we? Do you really need me to spell it out again? On my ship you have to earn trust, and I would never entrust the lives of my crew to anyone I wasn't sure would have their best interests at heart. You don't see them as people, Miranda. You see them as tools, there to do a job and nothing more. My ship, my rules. Garrus will take command."
Miranda was clearly biting back a nasty comment if her face was anything to go by. Unfortunately for Lawson, Shepard really didn't care anymore.
Garrus had followed behind, waiting for Lawson's tantrum to end, concern building. "I'm humbled by your faith in me, Shepard, but why exactly aren't I going with you? I thought I'd be perfect for this sort of operation."
They had now reached the Mess when she stopped and turned to him.
"And you would be, but I'm doing this one alone."
Two other voices joined his own to protest this latest announcement. The third belonged to Thane who had been sitting at the table. Even before Shepard raised her hand to quiet them, Garrus knew she was going, whatever they said.
"This is too sensitive a situation, and Hackett and I agreed that one person infiltrating the prison is more likely to succeed with a covert extraction like this. I'm not intending to storm the place. Nice and quiet, is all I need."
"I don't like this, but I'm clearly not going to be able to change your mind, am I?" Garrus frowned.
"Nope."
"This is a fool's mission, Commander," Miranda said, petulantly.
"So you think I should just give up on this artifact?"
Miranda crossed her arms, cocking her hip. "No, but I do think you should risk taking back-up."
"Noted, but not happening. If the batarians get any whiff of a break-out, they'll kill Kenson."
"Siha." Thane stood, and Garrus wondered at the word the drell had used to address Shepard. "I understand your wish not to endanger the life of the prisoner, but you place no value on your own should things go wrong."
"I'm not irreplaceable, Thane. We've already got a good team assembled. Garrus has command experience. He can take you all through if the worst should happen."
Garrus hated the thought of that scenario. Shepard had far more belief in him than he had in himself, and it was only her presence that helped him live up to her expectations. "Just make sure it doesn't come to that. Please," he beseeched.
Shepard placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "I have every intention of making it back. Got to make sure Cerberus gets their money's worth, right?"
She walked on to the elevator, and Garrus followed her, the others lingering in the Mess. With a single nod of farewell, the doors closed, and Garrus was left staring at the metal, uneasiness growing.
This could go bad in so many ways….
-x-
Kaidan knew he should have headed straight for his hotel room after the briefing, but he couldn't rest. Rahna's words haunted him.
He walked into C-Sec, Bailey noticing him and standing up to offer a hand which Kaidan shook.
"Commander Alenko, good to see you again. What can I do for you?"
"Nothing important. I just wondered if you'd seen Shepard recently."
"The Commander? Yes, in fact. She was here just a few hours ago. I believe she's left the Citadel now, though. Had me and my men busy, that's for sure," he chuckled, like he appreciated the extra workload.
Kaidan noticed Bailey's use of a title that was technically no longer hers. It appeared, for those who championed her, she would be forever synonymous with that rank. "Why's that, if you don't mind me asking?"
"First, we had a call about shots fired. Turned out a young drell had foolishly taken a contract to kill a turian politician, and Shepard and the drell's father had arrived just in time to stop the boy from making the kill."
"Do you know who this older drell was?"
Bailey gave a pained expression. "Well, yeah, I have a pretty good idea. The boy's name was Kolyat Krios, and Shepard referred to her friend as Thane."
"Thane Krios? The assassin!?" Kaidan couldn't believe that Terra would associate with someone like that.
"He's known to be a drell, so I'm thinking it's too much of a coincidence for it not to be him. Is there a problem, Commander?" Bailey was beginning to look a tad concerned.
"Uh, no. No, just curious. Was there anything else?"
"Not long after they left here, we were called out for more shots fired. Shepard was right in the middle of it again. This time we had two bodies. Seems they threatened Shepard's life, and Krios and Garrus Vakarian, a turian who used to be a damned good C-Sec investigator in fact before he disappeared, dealt with them."
"You let them off?"
"Look, Commander, we have enough to deal with without wasting time arresting people who are protecting themselves or their own from scum who were too stupid to know who they were messing with. I don't put much stock in all that crap the media likes to keep throwing out about Shepard. Her record speaks for itself in my books. A soldier like her doesn't sacrifice human lives to ensure the survival of the alien Council, just to turn her back and join a pro-human terrorist group. There's more going on than I'll ever get to know about, and if her people - her alien people - need me to look the other way, than I'm fine with that. That wasn't murder, it was protection."
Bailey's was a strong viewpoint that made Kaidan uncomfortable with himself, and more than a little envious. Bailey's faith, it seemed, was unshakeable. "Do you have any footage of the area outside your office around the time Shepard was here last?"
Bailey gave him a funny look, then shrugged. "Sure." He tapped some buttons. "Here. I'll leave you to it."
"Thank you for your time, Captain."
"Think nothing of it, Commander."
Kaidan waited for Bailey to leave, then pressed play. He watched Terra exit the office followed by the drell, then witnessed him reaching for her hands as they talked, her hugging him, Krios returning it. Closing it down, Kaidan walked out of the C-Sec office.
It wasn't unlike Terra to be like that with those she cared about, but Kaidan had trouble understanding her feeling like that towards an assassin. That propensity to kill someone because of a contract for money should have gone against everything she believed.
That aside, he didn't necessarily accept Rahna's take on what she'd seen. She knew nothing about Terra, and he refused to judge her again without more evidence. A kiss would have been one thing, but what he'd seen could easily have been friendly. If it had been more… he couldn't face what that might mean.
Christ, he needed to talk to her so badly, but first he had to get his head clear, so Kaidan headed for his room and his bed, taking in every little detail of the streets as he passed through them so his thoughts couldn't invade.
-x-
-x-
Shepard had infiltrated the old run-down prison easily. Security fields and doors were over-ridden. A few varren were left to roam the tunnels, but she used the new program she'd been working on with Mordin's help, sending a super-heated blast of flame that quickly consumed her targets before they reached her. She flitted past complacent guards, cloaked past others who had at least half a mind on their job.
Eventually, she came upon the cells.
It chilled her to see the blood-stained walls. A body covered by a dirty sheet. She checked under it. A human male. Perhaps someone working with Kenson? His injuries were heinous, clearly done to provoke maximum pain whilst drawing out life. She doubted this man was fully sane by the end. Her father had been right to send her, if only so she could save Kenson from the same treatment. Nobody should have to endure that. She checked the body for some sign of identification, but found nothing. There was nothing else she could do for him, so she moved on, closing in on what appeared to be a guard station.
Two batarians stood looking through a one way screen, watching another guard addressing a prisoner. Shepard moved silently into the room. The voices coming through the speaker from the other side told her the prisoner was female.
Cloaking, Shepard stepped closer, confirming the woman was also human. Without further hesitation, she slammed the head of the closest guard into the wall, rendering him unconscious, and as her cloak dissipated to reveal her presence, she punched the confused second guard hard enough to stagger him, and then a second time to knock him out.
Shepard checked the screen. The guard on the other side was none the wiser, and was now hooking his prisoner up to some kind of device. Hurrying out of the room, she barrelled into the interrogation room. The batarian hardly had a chance to turn around before she'd struck him.
Shepard stepped over the unconscious batarian. "Dr Kenson?" Whether or not it was her, Terra was getting her out of here.
-x-
Kaidan woke from a fitful sleep, his restless mind hindering his slumber. He dragged himself upright, swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees, and planted his face into his hands.
There was too much unresolved.
Terra was too important to him.
He activated his omnitool, wishing he could do this face to face. Except he couldn't just wait and hope for another chance encounter. So he typed:
Terra,
I can't leave it like this. Please talk to me. I'll meet you wherever you'd feel comfortable.
I love you.
Kaidan
He hated that the first time he was saying those three words to her was in a message, but he needed her to know; hoped it would encourage her to respond. He sent it.
Now he just had to wait.
-x-
Shepard and Kenson were off the facility. They had gotten past most of the guards and were almost at the shuttle bay before the alarm was sounded. Shepard held them off, while Kenson by-passed the shuttle-bay doors. Then they were away in one of the batarians own shuttles. Thanks to Kenson's knowledge of the batarians security, she had brought down their external sensors, making them untraceable.
"We should be well out of range before they get their security measures unscrambled."
Shepard nodded. "Tell me what you were doing out here."
"My people and I were investigating rumours of reaper technology, out on the fringes of this system. We discovered a reaper artifact within one of the asteroids near the relay itself. It showed me visions of the reapers arrival. Much like your prothean beacon, I imagine. Proof that the reapers will be arriving in this system, and from here, they'll use this system's mass relay - the Alpha relay - to spread throughout the galaxy. The reapers are coming, Commander. That much I know for certain. It would be months, maybe even years, before they could get to the next relay. Which is why we came up with what we just call the 'Project'. We plan to launch a nearby asteroid into the relay, using well-placed thrusters and a VI to control them, thereby destroying the relay before the reapers can arrive."
Shepard looked out of the shuttle's window at the relay in the distance. They'd long since lost their appeal for her after discovering that they were created by the reapers.
Destroy the relay…. That was one hell of an ambition, but she saw the necessity. It would strand the batarians that lived here, but they had effectively done that to themselves, with their self-imposed exile from the rest of the galaxy. It was sad, but they were a very stubborn people, in many ways worse than the krogan could be. "I thought mass relays were indestructible."
"I think it's more likely that no one's been willing to find out what happens when a relay is destroyed, but by our calculations, if you send something the size of a small planet at it, with enough speed, it would be more than enough to accomplish just that. Of course, the resulting explosion would probably wipe out the system," finished Kenson.
Shepard was shocked not only by that information, but also the casualness with which Kenson had announced it. There was a colony here! "What makes you think it would destroy the entire system?"
"Mass relays are the most powerful mass effect engines in the known galaxy. The energy released from the relay's destruction would probably resemble a supernova."
Terra was horrified. "How many people live here?"
"This is a remote system, but just over three hundred thousand batarians live on the colony where they held us. The explosion would undoubtedly kill them all."
Terra wondered at Kenson's apparent disregard for those people's lives. She felt sick at the very notion of it. A necessity, she had thought before, and Shepard realised that nothing had changed. It was just that there would be a sacrifice - unless they could get those people out of the system…. Deep inside she knew they probably wouldn't listen to humans. "The stakes are too high. If you're willing to destroy a whole system for this, I want to see your proof."
"I can't argue with that. Give me a moment." Kenson turned away to contact her people. "Kenson to Project Base."
Shepard phased out while she pondered the severity of the situation. This was bad.
Her father had already stated his reasons for needing her - as unconnected to the Alliance as she now was. She understood it completely. His judgement call now looked like it was a premonition. If the batarians got wind of any connection between the relay's destruction and humanity it would worsen their already strained relationship. Combine that with the large loss of life and there'd be war… Unless they put it down to the act of one person, someone with ties to a pro-human organisation like Cerberus. She would have to be the scapegoat to protect Earth from reprisals. She'd be known as a mass-murderer….
A horrid knot of nausea and dread started in her stomach. To the eyes of the galaxy, in particular the batarians, they would be committing genocide. She forced it away. First, she had to see this artifact, and she needed to tell her people where she was going. She keyed her comm. "Joker, I have Kenson and we're headed to the artifact." She received only static.
"Sorry, Commander, but we're closing on Project base," Kenson informed her. "We have scrambling programs around the asteroid. You'll be able to contact your ship from inside, on our special channel."
Shepard couldn't relax. She needed to find a way around this - to save those people.
x
"Anything from Shepard, yet?"
It had only been twenty minutes since Garrus had last strode restlessly into his cockpit, but at least this time Joker had something to report. "Yeah, I got half a message just now before it cut out," replied Joker, knowing it wouldn't help with the turian's anxiety.
As expected, Garrus was immediately on alert. "Cut out? Why?"
"I believe the Commander may have passed into a scrambled zone. The signal did not end abruptly but gradually faded out," supplied EDI.
"What did you get?"
"She has Kenson and was headed to… That was it," Joker replied.
"Okay, well that's something," breathed out Garrus. "Then I guess we hold tight for now." Garrus headed back out, and Joker watched him over his seat.
"That's one antsy turian."
"Mr Vakarian is concerned for the Commander's welfare," observed EDI.
"Yeah. We all are," mumbled Joker, now feeling as equally fidgety in the tense atmosphere.
-x-
"Welcome to Project base."
"What's this?" Shepard pointed to a large digital display that was counting down.
"That's our countdown to arrival. When that gets to zero, the reapers will have come. Just over two days and counting. Puts things into perspective, doesn't it?"
Terra was stunned, her heartbeat speeding up at this latest revelation. "You're saying the reapers could be here in two days?!" Her mind raced. "How can you know that's an accurate countdown?"
"It is. The artifact has been giving off pulses at definite intervals since we found it. The intervals have been decreasing at a steady rate. It's reacting to the reapers proximity."
"There's no time to waste!"
"Then let's show you that proof. The artifact is in the central lab area." Kenson moved into an elevator.
Shepard followed, her limbs heavy. "What would it take to get the Project back up and running?"
"Everything's in place. We were one button-press away from launch when the batarians arrested me during a scouting trip. It wasn't a question of could we, but should we?"
"What alternative do we have?" She prayed that Kenson would offer her something else as they entered the facility and made their way through corridors. This place was substantial, and well-manned.
"The reapers will reach this system, regardless. But the Alpha relay is their shortcut to the rest of the galaxy. If you want to keep the reapers at bay, this relay must be destroyed."
Terra felt the dismay swamp her. "Then it's the only chance we have."
They walked the rest of the way, quickly and in silence. Finally Kenson stopped in front of a secured door, typing in a code. "Commander Shepard, I give you… Object Rho."
The door slid open onto a room, observation monitors surrounding a large glowing object. It only took Shepard seconds to note, with horror, that there were no shields in place around it. "You have the reaper artifact just sitting here!? Out in the open!? How have you avoided indoctrination!?"
Kenson was fixated on the artifact as she spoke. "We've been very careful. We know what we're dealing with. When we found it, it showed me a vision of the reapers arrival." There was a strange smile on her face.
A chill ran through Terra. She knew the effects of indoctrination were subtle, unnoticeable. "Kenson, this is not good." Shepard began to back away as she looked at the artifact.
"Give it a moment, Shepard. It will give you the proof you need."
As if in response, Shepard was suddenly assailed with a blast of images forced inside her mind. It was painful, making her cry out, bringing her to her knees. It was making her see: thousands of reapers, heading for the relay, and she sensed the superiority - smugness that despite her past efforts she had still failed to stop them. It was over in seconds, but she felt exhausted. Blood was pouring from her nose, her ears were ringing, and her vision was blurry. Despite that, she heard the gun activating beside her.
Kenson placed it against Shepard's head. "I can't let you start the Project, Shepard. I can't let you stop the arrival."
Terra could feel a tingle at the back of her neck - the base of her skull. It made her angry. It wanted to control her, and she refused to be used. She tensed her muscles, then unleashed the energy in one rapid movement that removed the gun from Kenson and disabled her arm in one muscle-wrenching twist. Kenson cried out in pain, but Shepard had to allow her to back away as the guards in the room reacted. She armed herself and dived into a more defensible position.
"Take her down!" shouted Kenson as she ran from the room.
Her head was in a bad state and Shepard knew this was unlikely to go well for her. She mentally apologised to Garrus for leaving him with that huge responsibility of dealing with the collector base. She'd give anything to have him at her back right now.
-x-
Kaidan had been in the shower when he received the ping of a message, and he quickly towelled off and placed the omnitool back on his wrist. His heart racing in anxious anticipation, he opened it up, only to be disheartened by what he saw. His own message stared him in the face.
She'd blocked him. Not to be cruel, he knew, but it hurt, nonetheless. This couldn't be goodbye.
But as he stood in his hotel room on the Citadel with no idea where she was, Kaidan feared he would never see her again, and that thought almost brought him down to his knees.
-x-
Shepard fought with everything she had, her head hammering against her skull the whole time.
Waves of Kenson's guards came at her, yet somehow she was holding out. She'd done this on Elysium, she could do it again, she'd reasoned. The heavy mech they sent in to join them was an unwelcome sight, but she still held firm, getting through its shields and armour, then using it against them by sniping its head, creating a fantastic explosion that had taken out the rest of her attackers, too. Unfortunately, it hadn't touched the artifact.
She ignored the synthetic voice that rang out inside her mind, telling her it was futile. She knew the odds weren't good, but that didn't mean she'd stop fighting. She'd take as many of them with her as she could, and maybe they'd run out of personnel before then. Hope was her friend right now. And there was always hope.
Then Terra thought she was on the last stretch: the men coming through the doors were less numerous now. But the artifact had clearly been gathering strength, because it suddenly sent out a strong pulse that had her on the ground and fighting for consciousness. She was losing, darkness pervading. She'd lost.
Kenson's face was over her. "Take her to the medbay and patch her up. We want Shepard alive."
Terra couldn't respond as she was dragged under.
x
Normandy was now in full stealth mode as it closed in on the planet.
"Edi, start scanning for any shuttle emissions coming from the prison," ordered Garrus as he paced. It had been too damn long, with no word from Shepard, and he wasn't prepared to wait any longer. His was finally listening to his gut, and it told him something was very wrong.
"Scanning now."
"I knew she shouldn't have gone down there alone," griped Miranda.
"Shepard succeeded in her mission to free Doctor Kenson," Thane reminded her. "Something else prevented her contacting us. I doubt having more of us there would have changed that."
"Emissions detected. Plotting projected course."
They all waited in impatient silence, then Joker's screen lit up with the route.
"Follow it, Joker," Garrus ordered.
"You realise we're heading towards a whole lot of nothing, right?"
"It's all we have, right now. Please." The desperation tinged Garrus' voice but he didn't care.
Joker nodded in understanding, manoeuvring the ship on its new course.
"We will find her," Thane quietly assured from Garrus' side.
Garrus nodded back. He wouldn't quit until he had.
-x-